The need for educational and entertainment for younger children has been around since time immemorial. Stackable blocks have been around for at least a century and are well-known toys for young children. To make them more educational and more attractive to children, some blocks have been designed with letters, numbers, or pictures on their various sides. Blocks, however, while stackable and rugged, tend to be static with a fairly limited number of uses. That being said, it should be noted that blocks provide both education and entertainment to children as they can be used to exercise children's motor skills, teach children about balance, and other concepts including numbers, images, and letters.
Another well-known children's toy is the jigsaw puzzle. Children have been fascinated and entertained by this toy since the 1800s. However, once a particular puzzle has been solved, children tend to lose interest in it, sometimes forcing parents to continuously purchase more and more puzzles. Similar to blocks, jigsaw puzzles can be used for both education and entertainment as they can be used to teach children about a variety of subjects.
From the above, it can be seen that at least two well-known children's toys have both educational and entertainment uses. However, the technological advances in the past decade have not been applied to these or other educational and entertainment classics of old.
It should be noted that computer games and video games have attempted to bring the traditional children's toys into the 21st century. Video games exist which allow young children to interact with virtual jigsaw puzzles or virtual blocks. However, these attempts do not provide the same tactile experience that analog or “real” jigsaw puzzles or “real” blocks provide to young children. The interactions that children have with these video games are done by using a mouse, a keyboard or any number of traditional user interfaces. At a young age, children learn best when they are physically manipulating items and when they are accomplishing and doing things with physical toys/items. Regular computer games do not offer such opportunities for such physical manipulation.
Another problem with computer games, especially those on smartphones and tablet PCs is that these games tend to isolate the user. A social play or playing in a social environment, with all the social interaction that this entails, is lacking with such video games. Social development is one of the most important aspects of a child's upbringing. Handheld mobile devices tend to decrease opportunities for social play (or play with others in a physical, social environment) as these mobile devices are designed for single, individual play.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide solutions which may mitigate if not overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.